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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Unsettled and Off My Rocker

"Unsettled" seems to be the most fitting way to describe the last month or so. I've been incredibly nomadic and my schedule has been unpredictable to say the least. January and I have had our battles, now it's time for a new month.

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Camp closed its doors for two weeks in honor of the Christmas and New Year holidays. I was incredibly grateful for the opportunity to spend quality time with family and friends during the break. In fact, Alex and I were able to spend nearly 10 days together, as we each took a turn celebrating Christmas with our families. I was in the Carolinas December 20-24, and he came to Louisiana the 26th through the 30th. I especially enjoyed the opportunity to treat Alex to his first visit to New Orleans, a trip that coincided with a Nicholls roommate reunion (plus Joey & Kim who were in from Idaho)! It was great.

On January 2nd, I drove back to Little Rock, anticipating a return to work on the 4th. However, on the 3rd, a coworker and I went to the office to check out the progress on our rennovations, only to find out the administration had decided to keep the office closed until the following Monday (Jan. 9th). Megan and I were really frustrated because we could have used this time to visit our boys (her husband's spending the month in Boston for a Med School rotation), instead of being stuck in LR for the week. Thankfully, Megan and I had each other to stay entertained, since she'd asked me to be her roommate for the month while Richie is out of town.

We returned to work on Monday (Jan. 9th), with high hopes for settling into our new offices and getting back into the swing of things. Lo and behold, that morning we were informed the construction schedule would require the office to be closed once again, on Thursday and Friday. Later that afternoon, the closure was expanded to include Wednesday, which meant Monday and Tuesday were the only days were open for business that week. Oh, and, we didn't return to work until the following Tuesday (Jan. 17th) because Monday was a holiday (MLK). *angry face*

Ironically enough, I made several comments back in December about how I was jealous of college students' holidays, as my first year in the big kid world. While an unexpected four-week holiday from work definitely had it's perks, it happened to be one of the worst times of the year for this to happen. January 6th was the deadline for applications for spring weekend camp volunteers. Somehow...somewhow... the typical applicant pool for this time of year more than doubled from 20 to 45! I have no idea how this happened, but trying to process applications, schedule interviews, place volunteers, prepare for and host a large training all in one week was incredibly overwhelming, and definitely not something I'd like to ever do again.

No matter how hard I tried, I just could not keep up! There were so many e-mails that it took me til Friday to even LOOK at messages that had arrived the previous Sunday. The phone rang off the hook, with sometimes two or three messages left via voicemail while I answered a call that came in just before. Oh oh - I forgot to mention that we hosted our first weekend camp of the year this weekend, so Tommy (Weekend Camp Coordinator) and I were both scrambling to prepare evaluations, check-in forms, and cabin lists for Disney Weekend, all at the same time everything else was going on! It was nuts, I tell you...nuts!

At this point, I've survived the weekend, but there is no rest for the weary. It's a "work week" at Camp this week, so we'll have volunteer groups coming out to rake leaves from 9-3 for the better part of the week. This doesn't leave me much time to continue the interview and placement process with new volunteers, nor to prepare for next weekend's SCUBA Camp. ...Not to mention all the parents who are calling about summer camp applications (that I haven't even BEGUN to prepare). AHHH!!

All of this stress would have been a lot to take in a normal month, but adding a new roommate to the mix, while not being in my own space is quite a transition, as well. We're also right in the middle of processing applications for the 2012 National 4-H Conference Collegiate Facilitator group, and I'm doing my best to give that project all the attention it deserves. And, one can't forget the sneaky stressors in life such as hormonal changes or supporting and serving others. ...Those little boogers.